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The culture and how it affects ministry to kids

Resonance, in physics, explains the sense we have when we meet our people. Resonance occurs when an object’s natural vibration frequency responds to an external stimulus of the same frequency. If we know an object’s natural rate of vibration, we can make it vibrate without touching it. We are feeling something or experiencing something in …

We are designed and instructed to live in community with others. God’s Word encourages and urges us to be compassionate and kind. We must forgive and love. We can’t do that unless we live in community and interact with others. All of our responsibilities and duties involve other people. We must live in community to …

Ask yourself: Who is in your world? Who is in your circle? Who has God brought into your life? We can read and study for ourselves, but self study involves more than only ourselves in mind. God wants us to be a part of changing the lives of those around us. How are we reading …

There is a Facebook feed going around posted by my favorite author Len Sweet about how we grow and develop through life. Life begins as a tiny dot, a period, and grows into a comma, a small curve opening up and spreading out from the dot. As we continue to develop and grow, we become more …

In my career these days I am given some pretty big tasks. I am a leader and must balance many people on the staff at work and juggle schedules to meet many needs and time schedules. Some days it is tough. And certain parts of the day are even tougher. We have time demands and …

The following was written by Doris Boring, in loving memory of her sister Ruby Culbertson who went to be with Jesus on February 14, 2015, in Forest City, North Carolina.

Thoughts from the Baby Sister

Life as the baby sister was joyful and challenging. The twins, Norris and Doris, were always together and wanted to include Ruby in their fun and schemes, yet Ruby rarely wanted to be involved. They all had different interests. The twins always had fun together: riding bikes, skating, playing games, walking through mud puddles, and going to friends’ birthday parties.

Ruby was different from them. She wanted to do different things, and she had fun with other friends.

Ruby graduated from high school and went on to begin her life-long career at Roses Store. She went from one Roses to another and worked in many positions from clerk to office positions and to store management.

While not only working full-time at the store, Ruby devoted her entire life to caring for their mother and then caring for their older sisters. She spent a life of caring for others. She was always there for them.

It was not until their adult years that Doris and Ruby really enjoyed one other. They enjoyed sisterhood after Doris married and had a daughter. Ruby, being the caregiver that she is, devoted much of her time to helping Doris and loving on her niece. She made many visits to Florida for Disney and beach trips. She loved adventures and a good time.

Ruby was always ready for a good time. She loved family gatherings and trips. She spent many long hours on car rides to visit family. Her family was her life and she loved to have a good time.

We will always remember our Ruby Duby and the good times we had at the place where she called Home.

The author is very passionate about how children learn and showing creative teaching and learning methods. Her book gives a good description of how her own children were educated and encouraged to express their own interests and learning styles. They were not educated in traditional classrooms and schools and were encouraged to learn and grow at their own levels. The author expressed her teaching strategies that worked for her family. Although her writing tended to sound biased, she encouraged readers to put their own education preferences and styles aside while reading the book. Her writing style would be best incorporated with other educators who show similar teaching techniques and interests. There is a lack of references to support her creative teaching strategy; therefore, readers must invest time in the book by understanding the author is telling her story, not so much writing for persuasion.

Finally, I recommend reading this book for educators who are interested in creatively investing in the education of young children. The author gives a good description of her children’s educational journey from childhood to the independence of adulthood. Allowing children to explore their worlds and learn by doing enables them build an understanding of real-world experiences. They are free to learn in ways in which God ultimately created them.

This month in Kids Church we have been learning and discussing creativity. The latest lesson focused on shining a light on different items and creatively using them to share Jesus. How would you use a screwdriver to share Jesus? How would you use a broom to share Jesus? Students were given a bag with which to choose items and decide how they would use each item as a way to share Jesus and be the light of Jesus.

We can each be creative in sharing Jesus with our lives and everyday items. We can use tools to help someone repair or build something. We can use a broom to sweep a neighbor’s sidewalk. We can use a basket to collect a neighbor’s mail while he is on vacation or away for the weekend. No job is too small. Jesus’ light shines through all people, all ages, and in all ways when done for God’s glory.

Are you looking for a short devotional book? This book presents Bible stories in easy-to-read formats with Scripture references. Each story is followed by a Love Letter from God to apply the Biblical story to modern daily living.

At the end of the book, there is a space to include a letter to God to share how we can continue the Bible study and personal God times upon completion of the book.

The images in the book are clear and well-illustrated to accompany the Scripture passages. Image-rich individuals are able to view the stories in pictures and imagine the stories as they read along and understand the Scripture passages.

Pick up a copy of this book from this link and live the Bible stories in word and images as you study the Scriptures further and apply to daily living experiences.

Transformative Assessment in higher education can be compared to hands-on active learning in lower grades. To evaluate higher education programs, schools and faculty were using student surveys to determine program effectiveness. However, these tools often failed to measure student learning and gave poor understandings of program effectiveness and faculty success. Those current assessment tools failed to tell the whole story (Lorenzetti, 2004, 3). Therefore, the Transformative Assessment Project (TAP) was developed and created an active learning tool for students and assessment methods for schools and faculty to more accurately determine student progress and learning.

For baseball players to learn to hit a ball, they must practice swinging the bat and perform active participation in batting practice and in games. Student learning abilities must be exercised in similar methods by allowing students to active participate in hands-on activities as well. When drivers operate a vehicle at night, they need headlights to see. Students need tools with which to work and successfully manage hands-on learning activities. These hands-on activities create assessment tools for teachers to evaluate active learning methods of students in the moment, not after they have learned the material from a book.

To start a TAP, teachers create a rubric that outlines areas of emphasis for students and what they should master in the plan. Teachers keep track of student learning and progress throughout the program and evaluate progress. The transformative plan will focus on different aspects of student progress and allow teachers to manage teaching techniques to meet student needs. This learning style is based on learning processes, not evaluating learning outcomes from only one teaching method.

The learning environment includes many elements of schools and classrooms, including facilities, room arrangement, students, resources, climate, and support (Wilmore, 2014, 607). Each of these elements plays critical roles in the learning environment and creating positive learning experiences for all learners. Students must feel ownership and comfort in their classroom environment. They must experience a safe relationship with their teachers and leaders. When students have a partnership in their learning curriculum, they will have a positive attitude and accomplishment in their learning careers. Through appropriate and positive relationships, students and teachers become co-learners together in the classroom as they experience and explore the learning environment (Goh, 2002). By learning with their students, teachers become familiar with student needs and abilities and can better plan and prepare appropriate learning material.

An appropriate learning environment must include elements of simulation, stimulation, and interests for all learners. An atmosphere of simulation creates a safe and controlled environment in which skills are developed (Mifsud, 2012, 25). A simulated environment for all learners creates an environment of play and discovery or exploration. In the pre-kindergarten environment, teachers create active learning centers with which students interact and explore on their own learning styles. Students learn through play; therefore, they experience active learning participation in the classroom. This active exploration element of the environment creates positive experiences with which students can develop all areas of growth and become fully developed individuals.